So, after Florence, the next weekend Rachel came to visit! (Sorry, there is a LOT of writing in this post, more writing than pictures...)
I didn't do too much that weekend, until Sunday when I got to hang out with Rachel and my other friend Isabelle basically the whole day...
But first a quick story about Italian transportation system: The most unreliable thing ever.
Saturday night I had planned on meeting Rachel at her hostel and just catching up a little... I went to the bus stop near me to get to her hostel and waited for the usually-mostly-reliable 75 bus. After waiting for almost an hour with no bus, and with looming rain, I finally gave up (which of course when I walked away the bus came...). It was ridiculous. The buses here pretty much run at their own leisure, all I can say is that I'm VERY thankful I am a 2 minute walk from school and don't have to rely on the public transportation much!
Luckily though Rachel had internet access at her hostel, so we planned to meet in the morning at the Vatican!
I had also planned on going to the Vatican that weekend with Isabelle, who is studying here for the semester as well, and is from Germany. I met Isabelle in my marketing class and we get along very well! I also thought her and Rachel would get along pretty well considering Rachel is "studying" in Germany for the semester and loves to practice her German anytime she gets the chance! So, Isabelle and I met by school in the morning and proceeded to walk to the Vatican.
Of course, given the lack of actual street signs and the confusing tangled mess that Roman streets are, we got lost. We luckily got to ask directions from two different people who understood English pretty well, and for what was difficult, Isabelle can speak more Italian than I can! It was interesting, because we talk walked past the street we were SUPPOSED to turn onto about 10 minutes before, and when the nice pedestrians gave us directions (two seperate times) the each stated "be careful if you are walking because the street is very dangerous."
It was.
There were no sidewalks on the street we were going down, and we also had to cross the fairly busy street (where of course the Italian drivers sped by because: "speed limit? what is that?" haha!) AND it was necessary for us to go around a sharp corner where we would basically pop out of no where to the cars driving up to the intersection! Luckily we survived just fine! And we even finally found our way to Vatican City.
We looked around the Basilica, and I saw:
Michelangelo's Pietà |
Pope Benedict XVI |
This took until about 12:30 so unfortunately we missed the time for entry into the Vatican museum, so instead we went and got some food where I ordered this delicious cappuccino:
Mmmm!! |
Then Isabelle Rachel and I went and visited the Spanish Steps!
Which, apparently I didn't actually take any pictures of... but here's me at the top and some pictures of the view!
It was a cloudy day, but luckily the rain held off while we were out!
The rest of the time, Rachel and I wandered around the city. We ended up stopping for cappuccinos again later and talked for about 3 hours at the coffee shop (which are called bars, and bars are known as pubs). It was really wonderful to catch up with her, and it was extremely good for my home-sickness to talk to someone from home. That day really helped me snap out of some pretty bad home-sick feelings and gotten me to just enjoy being here more than ever!
Because we didn't get to go to the Vatican museum that weekend, Isabelle and I made plans to go the next Saturday (since we couldn't travel anywhere anyways due to a marketing project which was due this past Tuesday.)
The Vatican was absolutely spectacular, and HUGE. But there's so much it will be another post.... coming soon.... hopefully. ;)
Ciao!!
That is so great that you and your friends just rolled with it when buses were late or you got lost. Traveling in a new country is sometimes seriously stressful (especially when you don't have someone like Rich or Shirley planning out all your steps!) and I definitely get the homesickness thing. Ugh. What a drag. Canandaigua sure seems to have produced a few of us homebodies :) I hope it's getting easier and YAY you're more than halfway through!
ReplyDeletehaha yeah! I WAS pretty upset at that bus never coming that night though, I was so looking forward to seeing someone from home! But I have learned to be a more flexible, I told myself when I was coming that everything would be ok, I just have to stay alive ;) haha. Yeah I was looking at booking flights for visiting you and some other stuff today, and I really do miss having someone else plan the entire thing! Oh well, I'm growing up :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, homesickness hit me bad for about the first month, especially with Stephen at home it was a huge adjustment never seeing him at all... but it's gotten much better now, I just try and stay busy! :)
"Studying" in Berlin? I study lots of things. Like beer. And chocolate. And going to Italy. :p
ReplyDeleteHaha!! I just tried to "like" your comment, then realized I can't do that here...
ReplyDeleteIt's true though, I'm sure you study lots... just not for school. :P